


The Lake House

by keenwonderlandcollector



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Starker, starker au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:55:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28735329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keenwonderlandcollector/pseuds/keenwonderlandcollector
Summary: Peter takes a job working as a live-in nanny/housekeeper for single parent Tony.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Comments: 8
Kudos: 159





	The Lake House

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted some fluffy Starker escapism, and I hope you enjoy ❤️

For the first time in six years, Peter found himself looking for a job. 

When he'd turned eighteen both he and MJ had decided to go traveling, heading off to Europe. They started in London, and while MJ got a job in a bar, Peter wasn't really sure what he wanted to do. His main experience had been with children, spending most summers working as a camp counsellor and he'd done countless hours of babysitting over the years, and so he found himself a job as an Au Pair for a family. He loved it, and was sad to leave after six months, him and MJ deciding to continue their travelling. 

Peter continued to work as an Au Pair, and after a year of travelling he and MJ decided to split up for a while. MJ went to India while Peter stayed in Berlin for another couple of months before heading off to Italy. They met up a couple of times when they could, and kept in touch.

After six years, Peter finished up his latest job in Vietnam and decided to head home for a while. He'd visited most of Europe, Australia, New Zealand and South East Asia, so he was happy to take a break for a while and spend some time back in New York.

As it turned out, it wasn't as fun as he thought it might be. MJ was still travelling, currently somewhere in South America, and Ned was living his dream out in California. May very kindly let Peter have his old bedroom back, but he knew he couldn't stay there forever. After a week of sitting around watching daytime TV, he was beginning to get restless. There were no good job opportunities, and the one interview he'd managed to get hadn't been successful if the lack of communication was anything to go by.

As he was pouring his second bowl of cereal for the morning, his phone buzzed with a new job alert. It looked more promising than anything he'd seen so far, single parent looking for someone to live in and take care of two kids, some housework, looking after animals..Peter sent off his resume, not expecting to hear anything back as he went to catch the next hour of Good Morning America. 

-

It was two days later before Peter got a phone call asking if he was free for an interview about the job he'd applied for, agreeing a little too enthusiastically (there's only so much TV he could watch) and getting himself ready to meet his potential new boss that afternoon. 

Tony Stark was not at all what Peter had been expecting, though he could never in a million years have expected the most gorgeous man he'd ever seen to show up. Tony was about mid-40s, impeccably dressed in a navy suit that looked like it cost more than Peter had ever earned in his life. His smile lit up his whole face and Peter was sure he could get lost in those chocolate eyes. It got to the point where Peter could just about concentrate on convincing the man that yes, he was a competent adult who could be trusted to look after Tony's home and children. They'd met in a coffee shop in Manhattan, and Tony explained that while he'd usually conduct the interviews at his home, but as he was tied up with work he didn't have time, though he'd been keen to meet Peter. 

Peter had thought the interview was going pretty well, Tony had smiled at him a lot and seemed impressed with his resume, though they'd only been talking for about fifteen minutes when Tony got a phone call and apologetically explaining he was needed back at the office. He promised to keep Peter in mind, and they parted ways with the younger man praying that he could somehow get the job.

-

The next day, Peter got another phone call from Tony, asking if he was free to come by for a further interview that Saturday at Tony’s house, the younger man quickly agreeing.

That Saturday, after convincing May to let him borrow her car, Peter made his way out of the city and towards hopefully his new home. Tony had sent on the address, and Peter maybe had a quick look on Google Maps to see what it looked like. If that had been anything to go by, Peter really wanted the job. He wasn’t disappointed as he drew nearer to his destination,driving through a quiet town and emerging through a wooded road to find himself passing several large, elaborate homes. 

Peter felt incredibly nervous as he pulled up outside the stunning house, a sprawling lake behind it and a beautiful garden laid out around it. It was warm, not quite Summer yet but coming into mid-May. Peter hopped out of the car, smoothing out his simple red t-shirt and light blue jeans, running a hand through his hair and heading to the door. He tried to calm down, he’d worked for loads of families from various backgrounds, there was no reason this should be any different. Then again, he’d never had a serious crush on the boss before.

After a moment, Tony opened the door, looking much more casual than he had at their first interview, wearing dark jeans and a grey zip-up hoodie. Peter liked it, though he was pretty sure Tony could’ve been wearing a trash bag and he’d still make it look like the most expensive couture. “Hey, glad you could make it,” Tony smiled, stepping aside and holding the door open. “excuse the mess, it’s been a hectic morning.” 

Peter presumed Tony was referring to the small scattering of toys strewn on the huge living room floor, smiling to himself. If that was a mess..this would be a pretty easy gig. The house was just as stunning on the inside, light flooding in and casting the room in a warm glow. It was modern, but a little rustic with high wooden beams and an old fashioned fireplace mixed with the luxurious white couches and huge flat-screen TV.

“It’s my pleasure,” Peter smiled, looking over at Tony. “thank you for seeing me again.”

“Shall we?” Tony smiled, gesturing over to the couches. “feel free to kick the toys out of the way, I usually do.”

Peter felt much more relaxed in that second interview, finding out a little more about Tony. He knew the man was a CEO, that he had his own company in the city, two kids, a teenage boy, Harley, and a little girl, Morgan, worked long hours and needed someone to move in and take over from his previous housekeeper who’d retired a couple of weeks previously. But at that second interview he found out that Tony’s wife had passed away two years previously, which had prompted him to move out of the city in the first place. He’d thrown himself into work and was trying to cut back a little to spend more time with the kids, and he was also incredibly intelligent, charming, witty and Peter found himself wanting the job more than ever.

As they were talking, a loud banging sounded from another room, followed by a loud yell. Tony didn’t flinch, just nodded slowly before glancing behind him. A moment later, a young girl ran into the room, flinging herself into Tony’s lap.

“Hey,” Tony grinned, gently sweeping the girl’s hair out of her face. “where’s your manners, princess?”

“Sorry,” The girl turned in Tony’s lap, looking over to Peter with a sweet smile. “Hi!”“Hi,” Peter smiled, giving her a small wave. “you must be Morgan?”

“Yes,” The girl beamed, playing with the ends of her hair. “who are you?”

“I’m Peter,” Peter smiled, gesturing to himself. “it’s nice to meet you.”

“Peter’s gonna be looking after you,” Tony smiled, looking over to Peter for a moment, raising an eyebrow before Peter nodded happily, thrilled at having gotten the job. “like Joan did, remember?” 

“Yeah,” Morgan nodded, smiling as she looked over at Peter before looking up to her dad. “Daddy, Uncle Happy’s making a mess in the kitchen.”

As soon as the words left Morgan’s mouth another crash sounded from the kitchen, followed by a loud “Oh for the love of-”

“Since the last housekeeper left some of my friends have been helping out,” Tony explained, letting out a sigh as he turned to look behind him. “it’s been a long couple of weeks.”

“It sounds like you could really use me, then.” Peter smiled, beaming when Tony turned back to him with a grin.

“We really could.”

-

“I apologise again that Harley hasn’t deemed it fit to grace us with his presence, it’s usually getting dark out before he crawls out of his room,” Tony explained as they walked out to the garden. “but you’re not missing much.”

“It’s alright,” Peter smiled, resting his hands in his back pockets. “I remember what it was like being a teenager.”

“I’m sure you do,” Tony grinned, raising an eyebrow as he looked over to Peter. “it was what, two weeks ago?”

“A little longer than that,” Peter laughed, taking in the sight before him. The sun was sparkling over the blue lake, the grass lush and green beneath his feet. Tony had given him a tour of the house, and Peter was excited at the thought of it being his new home. “just about.”

They walked along until Peter found himself looking at a fenced enclosure, inside of which were three Alpacas, grazing happily.

“You know when most people say they have animals they mean a cat or a dog,” Peter raised an eyebrow, grinning as he walked over, leaning on the fence and reaching out to gently stroke the light brown Alpaca as it approached him. “this is..wow.”

“I take it that’s a good wow?” Tony smiled, coming to stand beside Peter. 

“The best wow.” Peter nodded, smiling over to the man beside him.

-

Peter settled in quickly, moving in a couple of days after getting the job. He quickly became close with Morgan, and found Harley to be quite sweet underneath the typical ‘brooding teenager’ exterior. He managed to get them into a steady routine after a couple of weeks of chaos, and turned his attention to Tony.

Something Peter had noticed early on was that Tony spent a large portion of the day away from the house, and it was often late into the evening when he got home. Even then, he’d stay in his home office working late for hours. 

Morgan often asked if her dad would be home before she went to bed, and while Harley never said much on the subject, Peter could tell he was missing some quality time with his father. So, Peter decided something needed to be done.

One evening, when Tony was working in the home office late again, Peter was cleaning up the kitchen and dished up a plate of the leftover lasagna in the oven, taking it to the office and knocking on the door.

“Mr. Stark?”

“Come in.”

“I thought you might be hungry,” Peter smiled, opening the door and walking into the room

“Oh,” Tony looked up, his glasses sitting halfway down on his nose, Peter’s heart beating a little faster. “thank you, but I already ate.” 

“What did you have?” Peter asked, raising an eyebrow as Tony looked back to his laptop, pushing his glasses up.

“I had a sandwich at lunch, so..”

“So you need something proper,” Peter walked over to the desk, setting down the plate and cutlery in his hands, smiling at the man. “enjoy.” He left before Tony could object, feeling victorious when he found an empty plate in the morning. 

He repeated the process every evening, dropping in a ‘Morgan got an A in her spelling test’ or _Harley scored the winning goal at his soccer match’_ as he gave Tony the plate. 

Peter’s goal wasn’t to guilt Tony, he just wanted to remind him that he had two great kids at home who needed their father. 

As Summer rolled around and the kids started their vacation, Peter was relieved that Tony began coming home a little earlier, most nights being home in time to put Morgan to bed and spend some time with Harley. 

Peter’s routine was a little disrupted by the kids not being at school, but he made a valiant effort to make sure they weren’t bored. The three of them would spend hours swimming in the lake, going into town to get ice cream, Morgan would sit on Peter’s shoulders and giggle as they fed the Alpacas, and when Harley and Peter would play soccer on the lawn. 

Tony began to take Fridays off from work, and set weekends aside for quality time with the kids. Most evenings, they’d sit outside and watch the sunset. Morgan usually fell asleep in either Tony or Peter’s arms, both of them tucking her into bed and heading back outside as Harley either went into town to meet his friends or hung out in his room. 

They would talk for hours about anything and everything, though Tony always wanted to know about Peter’s travelling, his eyes bright and a smile on his face as he listened to the younger man. A couple of times, Tony would head into the house and come back with one of his sweaters, silently handing it to Peter before continuing the conversation. Peter found himself sleeping in them, loving the feeling of it. He’d always wash them and return them to Tony’s wardrobe the next day, but he was always tempted to just hold onto one.

-

By the end of June, Peter felt like the luckiest man in the world. He loved his job, he loved where he lived, the kids were like his own, as he always felt, and he was absolutely, head-over-heels madly in love with his boss.

He found himself trying not to linger on the feelings too much. Sure, Tony would occasionally flirt with him but it was never anything serious. Most weekends Tony’s friends would come by and Peter soon realised it was just part of the man’s personality, he was flirty with everyone. But sometimes Peter would catch Tony just smiling at him, or he’d sit a little closer than usual on the couch, but Peter knew it was wishful thinking to read anymore into it.

-

When it was coming up to the Fourth of July, Tony decided to host a barbecue/birthday party for his friend Steve, telling Peter to feel free to invite some guests of his own, if he wanted. As it happened, MJ had gotten in touch to inform Peter she was coming home for a couple of weeks, and he invited her to come along.

The party was great, Peter had met most of Tony’s friends before, and thoroughly liked them all, but he found himself glued to MJ’s side for most of the day, so thrilled to see her again after so long apart. He couldn’t stop himself from just hugging her over and over, the two of them laughing and catching up on everything. Peter noticed a few times that Tony seemed a little..off with him, and Peter couldn’t figure out why. He didn’t think he’d done anything out of the ordinary, he was friendly to everyone and played around with Morgan and Harley, there was no real reason for it.

MJ had a theory, however. 

“He’s jealous.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” 

“Don’t be so naive.”

There was no way that was true, Peter told himself. Tony could have anyone, why would he want Peter? Just because they maybe flirted sometimes and Tony smiled at him, and sometimes looked at Peter like there was nobody else on Earth..

Peter swallowed a breath, looking over across the garden to where Tony was talking to Steve. He caught Peter’s eye and the younger man offered a small smile, his heart beating like crazy when Tony offered the same back.

-

Later that evening, as the fireworks were going off, Peter realised he didn’t know where Tony was, glancing around and trying to spot the man. After a moment, he spotted him standing down by deck, Morgan asleep in his arms. The younger man made his way over, standing beside Tony and looking out onto the lake. 

“Everything okay?” Tony asked after a minute, not looking at Peter. 

“Yeah,” Peter nodded, biting his lip softly. “It’s just..Natasha just presumed earlier that MJ and I are dating and I wouldn’t want anyone else to think that, because MJ and I are just friends. Besides, there’s someone much closer to home I have my eye on.” Peter smiled softly, looking over to the man and leaning up slightly to place a soft kiss on Tony’s cheek before moving back, looking out across the shimmering lake.

After a moment, he felt Tony’s arm around his shoulders, pulling him a little closer. He gently lifted his hand to touch Tony’s, smiling to himself as he rested his head on the man’s shoulder.

This was where he was meant to be.


End file.
